Stop-Loss By Hervé St-Louis Mar 29, 2008 - 9:32:53 AM

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Paramount Pictures And MTV Films Present
A Scott Rudin Production
Stop-Loss (2008)
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Writers: Mark Richard & Kimberly Peirce
Producers: Kimberly Peirce, Mark Roybal, Scott Rudin, and Gregory Goodman
Cinematographer: Chris Menges
Editor: Claire Simpson
Production Designer: David Wasco
Costume Designer: Marlene Stewart
Composer: John Powell
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ciarán Hinds, Timothy Olyphant, Victor Rasuk, and Rob Brown

Release date: Friday, March 28, 2008
Running time:  113 minutes
Rating:  MPAA – R for graphic violence and pervasive language



Sergeant Brandon King has led his men in a trap in Iraq, which has lead several of them to die and or be injured, the soldier starts to feel guilt. Back home in Texas with his fellow friends who served under him and his family, King decides to leave the army. But he is stopped from doing so by a stop-loss measure whereby the military puts him back to duty right away and wants to send him back to Iraq in a month. Can King avoid returning to Iraq? Can he really escape his destiny?



One would expect a Canadian reviewer to totally bash the US war effort on Iraq and criticize American policy makers over the state of the mobilization in Iraq. There will be no such things in this interview. First, because this war is a domestic American issue that is best discussed by Americans among themselves, and second, because that would take away the focus on what this film is really about, the American soldier who fights for his country in Iraq and wants out of the system. Ultimately, what every American soldier and citizen think about this war and how they should contribute to it or not is their personal choices and opinion, and this “foreigner” will certainly not preach any holier than though message. It’s up to you guys to make up your minds.



And this is what I liked about Stop-Loss. The film carefully showed every consequences, many benefits and disadvantages of serving in Iraq. It talked about the medals and the career opportunities as well as the despair and the pain of soldiers.  The plot stayed probably too close to a being a documentary about what a stop loss is, explaining in plain terms many scenarios. In a sense, it became a road movie about war.



Perhaps also, this film went into too much melodrama with the constant confrontations between King and best friend Steve Shriver. One thing which is new for such a movie is the platonic love interest subplot where towards the end of the film we can comprehend a little more what is going on in Shriver’s girl friend, Michelle’s mind. She’s made a choice of her own like all the soldiers.

What this film does is make everything relatable to viewers, although there is not enough motivation about why King wants to leave the army. Although he seems jaded about the war in Iraq, he is still an idealist who thinks the rules will somehow apply differently to him.



I think that a film like Stop-Loss is necessary to understand what is going on in America these days and like how it shun the most political aspects of the debate in favour for a more human approach. King’s post traumatic stress should have extended beyon being only about his last mission in Iraq before returning home in Texas. It’s as if he had seen no action whatsoever during all his time.



The film uses amateur camcorder shots, assumed to be shot by soldiers in Iraq, showing the camaraderie of King’s fellow soldiers. The montage, supposedly shot by the same soldiers looks a bit too professional too.  The rest of the cinematography was fine, although one senses that the director did not use the obvious opportunity to make the visual message more poignant.

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